Dendias to Turkey after meeting Israeli & Cypriot FM's: Our region will not go back to the 19th century

A new, resounding message was sent to Ankara by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, after the end of today's Tripartite meeting between Greece, Cyprus and Israel.

Dendias sent a new loud message to Turkey during the joint statements with the Foreign Ministers of Cyprus and Israel, Nikos Christodoulidis and Gabi Ashkenazi respectively, after the end of the Tripartite meeting.

"Our region will not go back to the 19th century. It will walk in the 21st century "on the basis of what we have achieved," stressed Dendias.

During the discussion with his two counterparts today, but also in the contacts he had yesterday, Dendias informed them about all the recent moves by Turkey which insists on its provocative line.

Dendias referred to the new illegal NAVTEX for investigations inside the Greek continental shelf, but also the visit of the Turkish vice president to the occupied Cypriot town of Varosia.

"We have unequivocally condemned these actions," he said, noting that a common component of his contacts was to seek a way to curb Turkish provocations.

In fact, he noted that the "antidote" to Turkey is a multilateral cooperation that will work for the benefit and prosperity in the region.

At the same time, referring to the Tripartite, he pointed out that it is open to expanding the group with only one condition: respect for international law.

"Our strategic relationship is very promising, but it does not turn against anyone. It is open to everyone with zero exceptions," Dendias emphasized

Regarding the meeting with his counterparts, he pointed out that "we look forward to further improvements" in trilateral relations in both the economic field and in areas such as defense, security, water management, environmental protection, health "which has a special importance" in the era of the pandemic, education, but also the joint management of cultural heritage.

"We exchanged views on how to deepen our beneficial relationship," he said, referring to the field of innovative entrepreneurship, "where Israel can teach us a lot."

The meeting with Lavrov

The Foreign Minister also referred to yesterday's visit of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, to Greece. He praised Russia's attitude towards the 12 nautical miles issue and the right that each country has to extend its maritime borders to these.

"Thus, in the most solemn way, he demolished an underground myth" that Russia opposes it, Dendias said.

The Foreign Minister also pointed out that Greece "showed" - through the agreements with Italy, Egypt and Albania - to the world community that modern countries resolve their differences through "agreements or referral to international bodies, in the context of international law."

"We are very proud because within a few months we resolved disputes that remained unresolved for half a century and created a model for how peace and stability can be achieved in our region," he said.